Masahiro Makino

Masahiro Makino マキノ 雅弘 Makino Masahiro February 29 1908 October 29 1993 was a Japanese film director He directed more than 260 films primarily in the chanbara and yakuza genres His real name was Masatada 正唯 but he took the stage name Masahiro the kanji for which he changed multiple times including 雅広 正博 and 雅裕 Masahiro Makino was born in Kyoto the eldest son of the film director and producer Shōzō Makino who is often called the father of Japanese cinema As a youth he acted in over 100 films before debuting as a film director in 1926 at age 18 His critically acclaimed nihilistic jidaigeki such as Roningai 1928 made him one of the top Japanese film directors but his way of shooting films quickly also earned him detractors For instance the total time it took to shoot the 1936 film Edo no Ka Oshō was only 28 hoursThe critic Sadao Yamane however has argued that this fast filming practice also contributed to Makinos speedy rhythmic film style Rhythm and tempo are important to his films and so in his jidaigeki fight scenes like in Kettō Takadanobaba 1937 could seem like dances or entire sequences like in Awa no Odoriko 1941 could be filled with dance He made musicals like Singing Lovebirds 1939 and even his wartime propaganda films like Hanakosan and Ahen senso both 1943 could have Busby Berkeleylike musical numbers After the war he helmed such popular jidaigeki series as Jirōchō Sangokushi and such ninkyō eiga series as Nihon Kyōkakuden He directed his last film in 1972 the retirement film for Junko Fuji completing a filmography that totaled over 260 films and included films of many genres